Apparatus for replenishing a source gas in a cavitation medium

ABSTRACT

A cavitation system in which a source gas, e.g., a reactant, is loaded into the cavitation medium prior to cavitation is provided. The cavitation system includes a cavitation chamber with suitable cavitation drivers and a cavitation medium reservoir, the chamber and reservoir being flexibly coupled together via a pair of conduits. The conduits can be fabricated from a plastic or, as is preferred for higher temperature liquids, a metal. Typically metal conduits are formed into a coil, thus providing the desired flexibility. Flexibility is required in order to allow the relative positions of the cavitation chamber and the cavitation medium reservoir to be varied. The system is configured such that the cavitation fluid will flow out of the cavitation chamber, through the lower coupling conduit and into the cavitation medium reservoir when the chamber is positioned higher than the reservoir, and flow out of the cavitation medium reservoir, through the lower coupling conduit and into the cavitation chamber when the reservoir is positioned higher than the chamber. As a consequence of this configuration, cavitation fluid can be readily exchanged between the cavitation chamber and the cavitation medium reservoir, thereby aiding the degassing process as well as providing a means of replenishing reactant-depleted cavitation medium.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/207,966, filed Aug. 19, 2005.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to cavitation processes and,more particularly, to an apparatus for loading a source gas into acavitation system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Sonoluminescence is a well-known phenomena discovered in the 1930's inwhich light is generated when a liquid is cavitated. Although a varietyof techniques for cavitating the liquid are known (e.g., sparkdischarge, laser pulse, flowing the liquid through a Venturi tube), oneof the most common techniques is through the application of highintensity sound waves.

In essence, the cavitation process consists of three stages; bubbleformation, growth and subsequent collapse. The bubble or bubblescavitated during this process absorb the applied energy, for examplesound energy, and then release the energy in the form of light emissionduring an extremely brief period of time. The intensity of the generatedlight depends on a variety of factors including the physical propertiesof the liquid (e.g., density, surface tension, vapor pressure, chemicalstructure, temperature, hydrostatic pressure, etc.) and the appliedenergy (e.g., sound wave amplitude, sound wave frequency, etc.).

It is generally recognized that during the collapse of a cavitatingbubble extremely high temperature plasmas are developed, leading to theobserved sonoluminescence effect. This phenomena is at the heart of aconsiderable amount of research as scientists and engineers attempt toboth completely characterize the phenomena and find applications for it.Noted applications include sonochemistry, chemical detoxification,ultrasonic cleaning and nuclear fusion.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,796 discloses a cavitation chamber comprised of arefractory metal such as tungsten, titanium, molybdenum, rhenium or somealloy thereof. Acoustic energy is supplied to the liquid (e.g., lithiumor an alloy thereof) within the chamber by six metal acoustic hornscoupled to transducers. The tips of the horns project into the chamberwhile the rearward portion of each horn is coupled to a heat exchangersystem, the heat exchanger system withdrawing heat generated by thereactions within the chamber. The inventors note that by removing heatin this manner, the liquid remains within the chamber, thus avoiding theneed to pump the chamber liquid. In one disclosed embodiment, the source(i.e., deuterium) is introduced into the cavitation medium through aconduit attached to the top of the chamber, the concentration of thesource being controlled by the dissociation pressure over the surface ofthe host liquid. In an alternate disclosed embodiment, an externalprocessing system with a combination pump and mixer removes deuteriumand tritium gases released from the cavitation zone and trapped withinthe chamber or tritium gases trapped within the Li-blanket surroundingthe chamber and then reintroduces the previously trapped deuterium andtritium into the cavitation zone via a conduit coupled to the cavitationchamber. Additional deuterium may also be introduced into the mixer.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,341, a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No.4,333,796, discloses a slightly modified, cylindrical cavitationchamber. The chamber is surrounded by an external heating coil whichallows the liquid within the chamber to be maintained at the desiredoperating temperature. The system is degassed prior to operation byapplying a vacuum through a duct running through the cover of thechamber. During operation, the inventor notes that graphite, dissolvedin the host liquid metal, is converted to diamond. The diamond-rich hostmaterial is removed via an outlet duct adjacent to the bottom of thechamber and graphite-rich host material is removed via an outlet ductadjacent to the upper end of the chamber. Additional host material andgraphite are added by lowering rods comprised of the host material andgraphite, respectively, into the heated chamber.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,173 discloses a sonoluminescence system that uses atransparent spherical flask fabricated from Pyrex®, Kontes®, quartz orother suitable glass and ranging in size from 10 milliliters to 5liters. The inventors disclose that preferably the liquid within theflask is degassed and the flask is sealed prior to operation. In onedisclosed embodiment, the cavitation chamber is surrounded by atemperature control system, thus allowing the liquid within the chamberto be cooled to a temperature of 1° C. Bubbles are introduced into thecavitation fluid using a variety of techniques including draggingbubbles into the fluid, for example with a probe, and localized boiling.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,104 discloses a shock wave chamber partially filledwith a liquid. The remaining portion of the chamber is filled with gaswhich can be pressurized by a connected pressure source. Acoustictransducers mounted in the sidewalls of the chamber are used to positionan object within the chamber while another transducer delivers acompressional acoustic shock wave into the liquid. A flexible membraneseparating the liquid from the gas reflects the compressional shock waveas a dilatation wave focused on the location of the object about which abubble is formed.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,323 discloses a cavitation chamber filled with a lowcompressibility liquid such as a liquid metal, the chamber enclosedwithin a temperature controlled container. A sealed fluid reservoir isalso enclosed within the temperature controlled container, the reservoirconnected to the bottom of the cavitation chamber by a pipe. Bypressurizing or evacuating the reservoir, fluid can be forced into orwithdrawn from the cavitation chamber. Fluid flow into or out of thechamber is aided by a vacuum pump and a pressurized gas source coupledto the top of the cavitation chamber. The system includes two materialdelivery systems for introducing materials or mixtures of materials intothe chamber. One of the delivery systems is coupled to the bottom of thechamber and is intended for use with materials of a lower density thanthat of the cavitation liquid, thus causing the material to floatupwards. The second delivery system is coupled to the top of the chamberand is intended for use with materials of a higher density than that ofthe cavitation liquid, thus causing the material to sink once introducedinto the chamber.

PCT Application No. US02/16761 discloses a nuclear fusion reactor inwhich at least a portion of the liquid within the reactor is placed intoa state of tension, this state of tension being less than the cavitationthreshold of the liquid. The liquid preferably includes enricheddeuterium or tritium, the inventors citing deuterated acetone as anexemplary liquid. In at least one disclosed embodiment, acoustic wavesare used to pretension the liquid. After the desired state of tension isobtained, a cavitation initiation source, such as a neutron source,nucleates at least one bubble within the liquid, the bubble having aradius greater than a critical bubble radius. The nucleated bubbles arethen imploded, the temperature generated by the implosion beingsufficient to induce a nuclear fusion reaction.

PCT Application No. CA03/00342 discloses a nuclear fusion reactor inwhich a bubble of fusionable material is compressed using an acousticpulse, the compression of the bubble providing the necessary energy toinduce nuclear fusion. The nuclear fusion reactor is spherically shapedand filled with a liquid such as molten lithium or molten sodium. Apressure control system is used to maintain the liquid at the desiredoperating pressure. To form the desired acoustic pulse, apneumatic-mechanical system is used in which a plurality of pistonsassociated with a plurality of air guns strike the outer surface of thereactor with sufficient force to form a shock wave within the liquid inthe reactor. In one disclosed embodiment, the spherical reactor iscoupled to a fluid flow circuit in which a pump and a valve control theflow of fluid. A reservoir containing a fusionable material, preferablyin gaseous form, is in communication with the fluid flow circuit. Whendesired, a bubble of the fusionable material, preferably encapsulated ina spherical capsule, is released from the reservoir and into the fluidflow circuit, which then injects the bubble into a port at the bottom ofthe chamber.

Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/001,720, filed Dec. 1,2004, discloses a system for circulating cavitation fluid within aclosed-loop fluid circulatory system coupled to the cavitation chamber.Cavitation fluid can be circulated throughout the system before, duringor after cavitation chamber operation. As disclosed, a network ofconduits couples the cavitation chamber to a cavitation fluid reservoirand at least one external fluid pump. Manipulation of various valveswithin the conduit network allows the cavitation fluid to either bepumped from the reservoir into the cavitation chamber or from thecavitation chamber into the reservoir. The disclosed system provides ameans of draining and/or filling the cavitation chamber with minimal, ifany, exposure of the cavitation fluid to the outside environment.

Although a variety of sonoluminescence systems have been designed, theydo not provide an efficient system for introducing or replacing asource, e.g., a reactant, into the cavitation medium. Accordingly, whatis needed is a cavitation fluid circulatory system that can be used forsource replenishment, preferably without re-pressurizing the entirecavitation system. The present invention provides such a system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a cavitation system in which a sourcegas, e.g., a reactant, is loaded into the cavitation medium prior tocavitation. The system allows the cavitation medium which has been atleast partially depleted of reactant to be replaced with non-depletedcavitation medium, reactant depletion resulting from the cavitationprocess.

The cavitation system of the invention includes a cavitation chamberwith suitable cavitation drivers and a cavitation medium reservoir, thechamber and reservoir being flexibly coupled together via a pair ofconduits. The conduits can be fabricated from a plastic or, as ispreferred for higher temperature liquids, a metal. Typically metalconduits are formed into a coil, thus providing the desired flexibility.Flexibility is required in order to allow the relative positions of thecavitation chamber and the cavitation medium reservoir to be varied. Thesystem is configured such that the cavitation fluid will flow out of thecavitation chamber, through the lower coupling conduit and into thecavitation medium reservoir when the chamber is positioned higher thanthe reservoir, and flow out of the cavitation medium reservoir, throughthe lower coupling conduit and into the cavitation chamber when thereservoir is positioned higher than the chamber. As a consequence ofthis configuration, cavitation fluid can be readily exchanged betweenthe cavitation chamber and the cavitation medium reservoir, therebyaiding the degassing process as well as providing a means ofreplenishing reactant-depleted cavitation medium.

In another aspect of the invention, a vacuum system is coupled to thecavitation system for use during degassing procedures. The vacuum systemmay include a cold trap. A pressurized gas source is also coupled to thecavitation system, the gas source used to load the cavitation mediumwith the desired reactant. Preferably multiple valves are used tocouple/de-couple the vacuum system and the gas source to the cavitationsystem when required, for example as a means of protecting pressuregauges attached to the vacuum system.

In one embodiment of the invention, the cavitation medium has a meltingtemperature higher than the ambient temperature (e.g., metal, salt). Inorder to accommodate such a medium, the cavitation chamber, cavitationmedium reservoir, and any coupling conduits in which the cavitationfluid is expected to flow are heated to a temperature greater than themelting temperature of the cavitation medium. Preferably in thisembodiment the system components that must be heated are located withinan oven. Alternately the desired temperature can be reached usinglocalized heaters to heat the chamber, reservoir and those portions ofthe conduits through which the cavitation fluid must pass.

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of the primary components of a systemconfigured in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates the steps performed during use of the gas loadingsystem shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a system similar to that shown in FIG. 1,showing an alternate means of coupling the system to the cavitationmedium filling reservoir;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the system of FIG. 1 in which thecavitation chamber is positioned higher than the reservoir, causing thecavitation fluid to flow out of the chamber and into the reservoir;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of the system of FIG. 1 in which thecavitation chamber is positioned lower than the reservoir, causing thecavitation fluid to flow out of the reservoir and into the chamber;

FIG. 6 is an illustration of the system of FIG. 1 in which cavitationdrivers are attached to the cavitation fluid reservoir;

FIG. 7 is an illustration of the system of FIG. 1 with the inclusion ofan oven surrounding the cavitation chamber, reservoir and couplingconduits;

FIG. 8 is an illustration of the system of FIG. 1 with the inclusion ofheaters surrounding the cavitation chamber, reservoir and couplingconduits; and

FIG. 9 illustrates the steps performed during use of the gas loadingsystem shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of one embodiment of the invention. System 100includes a cavitation chamber 101 in which the desired cavitationprocesses, for example cavitation driven reactions, are performed.System 100 also includes a cavitation fluid reservoir 103. Couplingchamber 101 to reservoir 103 is an upper conduit 105 and a lower conduit107, conduits 105 and 107 having sufficient flexibility to allow therelative vertical positions of chamber 101 and reservoir 103 to bevaried as described below while still remaining coupled together.

In illustrated system 100 as well as at least one preferred embodimentof the invention, cavitation chamber 101 is a spherical chamber. It willbe appreciated, however, that the invention is not limited to sphericalchambers, rather chamber 101 can utilize any chamber design which issuitable for the intended cavitation process. Examples of otherconfigurations include cylindrical chambers, hourglass-shaped chambers,conical chambers, cubical chambers, rectangular chambers,irregularly-shaped chambers, etc. One method of fabricating chamber 101is described in detail in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/925,070, filed Aug. 23, 2004, entitled Method of Fabricating aSpherical Cavitation Chamber, the entire disclosure of which isincorporated herein for any and all purposes. Examples ofhourglass-shaped chambers are provided in co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/140,175, filed May 27, 2005, entitledHourglass-Shaped Cavitation Chamber, and Ser. No. 11/149,791, filed Jun.9, 2005, entitled Hourglass-Shaped Cavitation Chamber with SphericalLobes, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein for anyand all purposes. An example of a cylindrical cavitation chamber isprovided in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/038,344,filed Jan. 18, 2005, entitled Fluid Rotation System for a CavitationChamber, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein for anyand all purposes.

Chamber 101 can be fabricated from any of a variety of materials,depending primarily upon the desired operating pressure and temperatureof the chamber and system. Preferably the selected material ismachinable, thus simplifying fabrication, and corrosion resistant, thusallowing the chamber to be used repeatedly with a variety of liquids.Typically a metal, for example 17-4 precipitation hardened stainlesssteel, is used for chamber 101.

The selected dimensions of chamber 101 depend primarily on the intendeduse of the chamber, although the cost of the cavitation fluid, chamberfabrication issues, operating temperature and cavitation drivercapabilities also influence the preferred dimensions of the chamber fora specific process. In general, small chambers are preferred forsituations in which it is desirable to limit the amount of thecavitation medium or in which driver input energy is limited while largechambers (e.g., 10 inches or greater) are preferred as a means ofsimplifying experimental set-up and event observation or when highenergy reactions are being driven within the chamber. Thick chamberwalls are preferred in order to accommodate high pressures.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in FIG. 1,the internal volumes of chamber 101 and reservoir 103 are approximatelyequal. It should be appreciated, however, that the chambers do not haveto be of the same internal volume. For example, the reservoir can bedesigned to hold more cavitation fluid than cavitation chamber 101.Additionally, reservoir 103 does not have to be shaped the same aschamber 101. In general, reservoir 103 is designed to simply handle thedesired operating pressure and temperature while being relatively simpleto manufacture, assemble, and couple to system 100. Thus while chamber101 may be designed to meet certain criteria associated with theintended cavitation process, for example to enhance the performance ofthe selected driver with a specific cavitation fluid, the designlimitations placed on reservoir 103 are much less taxing. As a result,chamber 101 and reservoir 103 may utilize the same design (e.g., bothspheres), or completely different designs (e.g., an hourglass-shapedcavitation chamber and a spherical reservoir).

Conduits 105 and 107 are required to provide the necessary positionalflexibility of chamber 101 relative to reservoir 107 while handling thedesired operating pressure and temperature of the cavitation fluid.Thus, for example, a plastic (e.g., polyvinyl chloride, chlorinatedpolyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, cross-linked polyethylene or PEX,etc.) can be used for low temperature applications while a metal (e.g.,coiled copper tubing, coiled stainless steel tubing, etc.) is preferablyused for higher temperature applications. Any of a variety ofnon-metallic cavitation media can be used, for example acetone. Theprimary limitation placed on a metal cavitation medium is thetemperature capabilities of system 100. To simplify the design andfabrication of system 100, preferably a metal with a relatively lowtemperature melting point is used such as mercury or a cerro metal(e.g., cerrobend). Higher melting point metals or salts can be used insystem 100 if the system is capable of operating at or above the meltingpoint of the desired metal or salt.

A third conduit 109 is attached to either upper conduit 105, for exampleas shown, or attached to the upper portion of reservoir 103 (not shown).Conduit 109 allows the system to be coupled to a vacuum system forevacuation and coupled to a pressurized gas system for supplying thedesired gas for loading the cavitation medium. Although not preferred,it should be understood that the gas loading system and the degassingsystem (i.e., vacuum pump) can be attached to system 100 (e.g., conduit105) in separate locations. Conduit 109 can also be used to fill thesystem with the cavitation medium. Alternately a separate cavitationmedium filling system can be used as described in further detail below.

In the preferred embodiment, conduit 109 tees or splits into twobranches, conduit 111 leading to the vacuum system and conduit 113leading to the gas loading system. A three-way valve 115 allows thesystem to be coupled to the ambient atmosphere via conduit 117 or tovacuum pump 119. Valve 121 provides a means for isolating the systemfrom pump 119. Preferably a trap 118 insures that cavitation fluid isnot drawn into vacuum pump 119 or vacuum gauge 123. Preferably trap 118is cooled so that any cavitation medium entering the trap solidifies.Typically at least one vacuum gauge 123 is used to provide an accurateassessment of the system pressure. Three-way valve 125 allows the systemto be coupled to the ambient atmosphere via conduit 127 or to the highpressure gas source 129. A pressure regulator 131 is used to control theoutput pressure of source 129. Valve 133 controls the output of source129. Typically at least one pressure gauge 135 is used to monitor thesystem pressure.

FIG. 2 illustrates the primary steps performed during the use of the gasloading system of the invention. Initially the system is tested forleaks using a two step process (step 201). First, the entire system isevacuated using vacuum pump 119 in order to verify that the system doesnot have any leaks while under vacuum. Second, the entire system ispressurized, for example using a high pressure nitrogen or heliumsource. The high pressure gas source which is used during testing can beattached where source gas 129 is typically attached, or separatelycoupled to system 100. Typically system 100 is tested at least at thehighest expected pressure (e.g., operating pressure, gas loadingpressure), on the order of 500 to 1000 psi in the preferred embodiment,and at the desired operating temperature.

If the system does not exhibit any leaks while evacuated or pressurized,or after any leaks have been fixed, it is then filled with thecavitation medium (step 203). The system is filled with sufficientcavitation medium to fill cavitation chamber 101 to the desiredoperating level, partially fill reservoir 103 and completely fillconduit 107 coupling the lower portions of chamber 101 and reservoir103. It will be appreciated that the operating level for chamber 101 isbased on obtaining the most efficient cavitation action. For example,while a spherical chamber (e.g., the chamber shown in FIG. 1) may bemost efficiently operated when it is completely full, a verticallyaligned cylindrical chamber may operate most efficiently when it is notcompletely full, thus providing a free cavitation liquid surface at thetop of the chamber. With respect to reservoir 103, the level to which itis filled depends upon its size. For example, assuming that reservoir103 is of approximately the same inner volume as chamber 101, it isfilled to about 25 percent capacity. The exact level to which reservoir103 is filled is not critical. The purpose is to insure that reservoir103 has sufficient unfilled volume to allow a large portion, if not all,of the medium contained within chamber 101 to be transferred intoreservoir 103 during the medium mixing step discussed below. Furthermoreit is desirable for the medium within reservoir 103 to have a relativelylarge surface area, thus improving the efficiency of both the degassingand the gas loading steps discussed below. It will be appreciated thatif during the cavitation medium filling step the relative positions ofchamber 101 and reservoir 103 are approximately equal as illustrated inFIG. 1, and assuming approximately equivalent internal volumes, thechamber and reservoir would each be approximately ⅝ 's filled in orderto achieve the desired fill volumes noted above.

System 100 can be filled, for example, via either conduit 117 or 127.Alternately, as illustrated in FIG. 3, a different conduit 301 can beused for system filling. Regardless of the fill conduit, preferably areservoir 303 is coupled to the selected conduit (note: reservoir 303 isonly shown coupled to conduit 301 although a similar reservoir can beused with conduit 117 or conduit 127). In the system illustrated in FIG.3, conduit 301 is coupled to conduit 105 via a three-way valve 305.Alternately, conduit 105 can be disconnected from chamber 101 andconduit 301 connected to chamber 101 for filling, and then, once thesystem is filled to the desired level, reversed (i.e., re-couplingconduit 105 to chamber 101). Regardless of the method used to couplereservoir 303 to system 101, preferably the system is evacuated prior tofilling, thus causing the cavitation medium to be drawn into the system(i.e., utilizing ambient air pressure to provide the pressure to fillthe system).

After system 100 is filled as described above, the system is sealed anddegassed using vacuum pump 119 (step 205). This step typically takesbetween 30 and 60 minutes, depending primarily upon the capacity of pump119, the volume of chamber 101, the volume of reservoir 103, the volumesof conduits 105 and 107, and the volume and vapor pressure of thecavitation fluid. In general, the system is pumped down to the limits ofthe vacuum pump (e.g., less than 1 mm of mercury for liquid metals) orto the vapor pressure of the liquid.

After degassing step 205, a determination is made as to whetheradditional degassing is required (step 207). In general, the amount ofdegassing that is required depends on the sensitivity of the reactantsto the presence of oxygen and nitrogen (i.e., the greater thesensitivity to oxygen and nitrogen, the greater the need for degassing).If additional degassing is warranted, preferably cavitation is used totear vacuum cavities within the cavitation medium (step 209). As thenewly formed cavities expand, gas from the fluid that remains after theinitial degassing step enters into the cavities. During cavity collapse,however, not all of the gas re-enters the fluid. Accordingly a result ofthe cavitation process is the removal of dissolved gas from thecavitation fluid via rectified diffusion and the generation of bubbles.

Cavitation as a means of degassing the fluid is typically performedwithin cavitation chamber 101 using cavitation drivers 137. Clearly theinvention is not limited to a specific number, type or location ofdriver. Examples of suitable drivers are given in co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/931,918, filed Sep. 1, 2004, entitled AcousticDriver Assembly for a Spherical Cavitation Chamber; Ser. No. 11/123,388,filed May 5, 2005, entitled Acoustic Driver Assembly With Recessed HeadMass Contact Surface; and 11/068,080, filed Feb. 28, 2005, entitledHydraulic Actuated Cavitation Chamber, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein in their entirety for any and all purposes.Preferably for high vapor pressure liquids, prior to optional step 209the use of vacuum pump 119 is temporarily discontinued, for example byclosing valve 121 and turning off the pump, thereby minimizing the lossof cavitation medium through boiling. For low vapor pressure liquidssuch as liquid metals, vacuum pump 119 can be operated continuously.After the fluid within chamber 101 is cavitated for a period of time,typically for at least 5 minutes and preferably for more than 30minutes, the newly created bubbles float to the top of the chamber dueto their buoyancy. The gas removed from the fluid during this step isperiodically removed from the reactor system using vacuum pump 119.Typically the vacuum pump is only used after there has been a noticeableincrease in pressure within system 100, preferably an increase of atleast 0.2 psi over the vapor pressure of the cavitation fluid,alternately an increase of at least 0.02 psi over the vapor pressure ofthe cavitation fluid, or alternately an increase of a couple of percentof the vapor pressure. Preferably the use of cavitation as a means ofdegassing the cavitation fluid is continued until the amount ofdissolved gas within the cavitation fluid is so low that the fluid willno longer cavitate at the same cavitation driver power.

After completing the optional cavitation degassing step, preferably thecavitation medium is circulating between chamber 101 and reservoir 103(step 211), the process being repeated (step 212) until all of thecavitation medium is sufficiently degassed. Fluid circulation isperformed by moving the positions of chamber 101 and reservoir 103relative to one another (see FIGS. 4 and 5), thereby causing thecavitation fluid contained therein to flow back and forth between thetwo containers. Cavitation aided degassing can either continuethroughout the fluid circulation step, or be stopped during step 211 andthen reinitiated after the cavitation medium has been sufficientlymixed. FIG. 4 is an illustration of system 100 in which chamber 101 ispositioned higher than reservoir 103, causing the cavitation fluid toflow out of chamber 101 and into reservoir 103. FIG. 5 is anillustration of system 100 in which chamber 101 is positioned lower thanreservoir 103, causing the cavitation fluid to flow out of reservoir 103and into chamber 101.

As previously noted, preferably cavitation aided degassing step 209 isperformed using drivers 137 coupled to chamber 101. Alternately, one ormore drivers 601 can be attached to reservoir 103 as illustrated in FIG.6, drivers 601 allowing step 209 to be performed within reservoir 103.As the attachment of drivers 601 to reservoir 103 does not eliminate theneed for drivers 137 which are required for the actual cavitationprocess, this approach is not preferred. The attachment of one or morecavitation drivers 601 to reservoir 103 does eliminate the need for step211, assuming that the cavitation aided degassing step is performedwithin both chamber 101 and reservoir 103.

Once system 100 is sufficiently degassed via step 205 and, if desired,optional steps 209/211, system 100 is sealed off from the vacuum system,for example using valve 115 (step 213), thereby protecting sensitivepressure gauge 123. Then system 100 is pressurized with the desiredsource (i.e., reactant) gas 129 to the desired pressure in order to loadthe cavitation medium with the source gas (step 215). In one preferredembodiment, the desired system pressure is between 500 and 1000 psi andsource gas 129 is deuterium gas. If desired, source gas 129 can be amixture of gases.

After completion of step 215 system 100, and more specificallycavitation drivers 137, can be used to cavitate the cavitation mediumcontained within chamber 101. In a preferred embodiment, however, theconcentration of non-source gas in the cavitation medium is furtherdecreased by repeating the degassing and source loading steps. Onceagain steps 209/211 are optional.

At this point the cavitation system is ready to perform the desiredcavitation reactions within chamber 101. Accordingly the cavitationmedium within chamber 101 which has been loaded with source gas 129 iscavitated using driver(s) 137, the high intensity cavitation drivenimplosions within the cavitation medium driving the desired reactions(step 217). During step 217 preferably chamber 101 and reservoir 103 arepositioned such that chamber 101 is completely filled, for example asshown in FIG. 5.

As the cavitation driven reactions take place and bubbles are formed andcavitated within the medium, the cavitating medium slowly becomesdepleted of source gas 129. To load additional source gas 129 into themedium without re-pressurizing the system, the cavitation fluid iscirculated between chamber 101 and reservoir 103 (step 219). Step 219causes cavitation fluid within reservoir 103 which was previously loadedwith source gas 129 but has not yet been depleted to be exchanged withthe depleted or partially depleted cavitation medium within chamber 101.To perform step 219 the relative vertical positions of chamber 101 andreservoir 103 are varied as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, therebycausing cavitation fluid to flow between chamber 101 and reservoir 103via conduit 107. In one embodiment, cavitation within chamber 101 isperformed continuously throughout step 219. In an alternate embodiment,cavitation within chamber 101 is suspended during step 219 (i.e., steps221/223). After the cavitation medium has been sufficiently depleted ofsource gas 129, either experiments are terminated (step 225) or thecavitation fluid must be reloaded (step 215). If the reaction productsare gaseous, then preferably the medium is degassed (step 205) prior toreloading the system.

During cavitation step 217, the inventor has found that slowly bleedingsystem 100, for example by opening valve 125 to conduit 127 and loweringthe pressure at a rate of approximately 10 psi per hour, leads toimproved bubble formation (optional step 227).

As previously noted, the present apparatus and gas loading method can beused with liquid metals, including those metals that have a meltingpoint higher than the ambient temperature. FIG. 7 is an illustration ofsystem 100 modified for use with such cavitation media. Specifically,chamber 101, reservoir 103 and conduits 105/107 are all placed within anoven 701. Conduit 109 passes through the wall of oven 701, thus allowingvacuum pump 119, high pressure gas source 129, regulator 131, andpressure gauges 123/135 to all be maintained at ambient temperature.Although the inventor has found that the system shown in FIG. 7 is theeasiest method of consistently maintaining the desired temperaturethroughout chamber 101, reservoir 103 and conduits 105/107, it is alsopossible to use localized heaters, for example as illustrated in FIG. 8.It will be appreciated that the use of localized heaters requires thatall conduits and/or portions of conduits in which liquid metal may passbe heated. As shown in FIG. 8, chamber 101 is surrounded by a heater801, reservoir 103 is surrounded by a heater 803, and conduits 105/107are surrounded/wrapped with a heater 805. If desired, only a portion ofconduit 105 can be heated as the cavitation fluid does not fill thisconduit, rather the cavitation fluid typically only rises into conduit105 when the positions of chamber 101 and reservoir 103 are beingaltered in order to circulate the cavitation medium between them. Itwill be appreciated that during system operation, drivers 137 will alsoheat the cavitation medium contained within chamber 101, therebylowering the heating requirements placed on heater 801.

Regardless of the method of heating (i.e., oven, localized heaters,etc.), in addition to heating chamber 101, reservoir 103 and theportions of conduits 105/107 in which cavitation fluid may flow, it isnecessary to heat the initial cavitation fluid holding reservoir 303 aswell as any conduits used to couple this reservoir to system 100 duringthe system filling procedure. Accordingly in the preferred embodimentillustrated in FIG. 7, initial cavitation fluid holding reservoir 303,coupling conduit 301 and valve 305 are all maintained within oven 701.It will be appreciated that coupling conduit 301 can also be attached toother locations within the system (and within oven 701), for example tothe upper or lower portions of reservoir 103 or to the bottom portion ofchamber 101. In the system illustrated in FIG. 8 it is assumed thatreservoir 303 is coupled to conduit 127 during the filling procedure.Accordingly heater 805 also encases conduits 109/113/127 as well asvalve 125.

The use of the heated system as illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 is similarto the approach previously outlined for the non-heated system. However,as illustrated in FIG. 9, an additional system heating step 901 isrequired. Preferably heating step 901 is performed prior to, orconcurrently with, system testing step 201, thus insuring that thesystem does not have any vacuum or pressure leaks even at the elevatedoperating temperature.

As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the presentinvention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing fromthe spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Accordingly, thedisclosures and descriptions herein are intended to be illustrative, butnot limiting, of the scope of the invention which is set forth in thefollowing claims.

1. A cavitation system comprising: a cavitation chamber; at least onecavitation driver coupled to said cavitation chamber; a cavitationmedium reservoir; a first flexible conduit coupling a first inlet ofsaid cavitation chamber to a first inlet of said cavitation mediumreservoir; and a second flexible conduit coupling a second inlet of saidcavitation chamber to a second inlet of said cavitation mediumreservoir, wherein said first and second flexible conduits allowmultiple relative positions for said cavitation chamber and saidcavitation medium reservoir including a first relative position and asecond relative position, wherein in said first relative position afirst portion of a cavitation medium flows out of said cavitationchamber, through said second flexible conduit, and into said cavitationmedium reservoir, and wherein in said second relative position a secondportion of said cavitation medium flows out of said cavitation mediumreservoir, through said second flexible conduit, and into saidcavitation chamber.
 2. The cavitation system of claim 1, wherein saidfirst and second flexible conduits are comprised of a plastic.
 3. Thecavitation system of claim 1, wherein said first and second flexibleconduits are comprised of a metal.
 4. The cavitation system of claim 1,wherein said first and second flexible conduits are comprised of coiledmetal tubing.
 5. The cavitation system of claim 1, further comprisingmeans for degassing the cavitation medium, said degassing means coupledto said cavitation system.
 6. The cavitation system of claim 5, whereinsaid degassing means further comprises a vacuum pump coupled to saidcavitation system.
 7. The cavitation system of claim 1, furthercomprising means for heating said cavitation chamber, said cavitationmedium reservoir, said second flexible conduit, and at least a portionof said first flexible conduit to a temperature greater than a meltingtemperature corresponding to said cavitation medium.
 8. The cavitationsystem of claim 7, wherein said heating means is an oven.
 9. Acavitation system comprising: a cavitation chamber; at least onecavitation driver coupled to said cavitation chamber; a cavitationmedium reservoir; a first flexible conduit coupling a first inlet ofsaid cavitation chamber to a first inlet of said cavitation mediumreservoir; a second flexible conduit coupling a second inlet of saidcavitation chamber to a second inlet of said cavitation mediumreservoir, wherein said first and second flexible conduits allowmultiple relative positions for said cavitation chamber and saidcavitation medium reservoir including a first relative position and asecond relative position, wherein in said first relative position afirst portion of a cavitation medium flows out of said cavitationchamber, through said second flexible conduit, and into said cavitationmedium reservoir, and wherein in said second relative position a secondportion of said cavitation medium flows out of said cavitation mediumreservoir, through said second flexible conduit, and into saidcavitation chamber; a pressurized gas source coupled to said cavitationsystem; and at least one valve interposed between said pressurized gassource and said cavitation system.
 10. The cavitation system of claim 9,wherein said first and second flexible conduits are comprised of aplastic.
 11. The cavitation system of claim 9, wherein said first andsecond flexible conduits are comprised of a metal.
 12. The cavitationsystem of claim 9, wherein said first and second flexible conduits arecomprised of coiled metal tubing.
 13. The cavitation system of claim 9,wherein said pressurized gas source is coupled to said first flexibleconduit.
 14. The cavitation system of claim 9, wherein said pressurizedgas source is coupled to said cavitation medium reservoir.
 15. Thecavitation system of claim 9, further comprising means for degassing thecavitation medium, said degassing means coupled to said cavitationsystem.
 16. The cavitation system of claim 15, wherein said degassingmeans further comprises a vacuum pump coupled to said cavitation system.17. The cavitation system of claim 9, further comprising means forheating said cavitation chamber, said cavitation medium reservoir, saidsecond flexible conduit, and at least a portion of said first flexibleconduit to a temperature greater than a melting temperaturecorresponding to said cavitation medium.
 18. The cavitation system ofclaim 17, wherein said heating means is an oven.